Ferrari needs to find consistency, admits Domenicali

28 May 2013

Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali insists that the Scuderia will not beat itself up after failing to build on its Spanish Grand Prix victory in Monaco last weekend, but admits that the team needs to find some parity between performances if it is to challenge long-term.

Speaking after a Monaco race which saw Fernando Alonso finish a frustrated seventh and team-mate Felipe Massa hit the wall for a second time, Domenicali acknowledged that Ferrari's up-and-down start to the season showed no signs of abating, with the pair having finished first and third respectively in Barcelona two weeks earlier. Despite an apparently strong start to the Monaco weekend, Ferrari appeared unable to live with the pace of either Mercedes or Red Bull on raceday in the Principality, allowing Sebastian Vettel, who chased Nico Rosberg home, to extend his championship advantage once again.

“This championship seems to be a real rollercoaster of emotions,” Domenicali commented after a day of reflection in Maranello, “Following on from a good weekend comes a bad one. That was the case in the first four races outside Europe and nothing has changed now we are back on the Old Continent.”

Despite being unable to predict how his team will run from week to week, the Italian insisted that nothing had changed in its efforts to get on terms with Vettel and Red Bull at the head of the standings.

“I can confirm that we didn't get carried away when we won, nor did we beat ourselves up when things did not go as well as expected,” he said, “But, from now on, it will be important to establish a consistent level of performance.

“The championship standings are very close and the number of strong opponents is ever increasing. It's a scenario in which each point is precious and each hundredth of performance becomes important. Obviously, we are [also] well aware that one less reliability problem can be vey significant in terms of how the championship pans out. We have a lot of work to do in the coming days to be as well prepared as possible for Montreal. We have all rolled our sleeves up and are focused on the tasks that lie ahead of us.”

With six rounds of the 2013 campaign in the books, and the long trip to Canada to follow in two weekends' time, Alonso remains third in the drivers' standings, albeit 29 points behind Vettel, while Ferrari is second in the teams' table, 41 points adrift of its rival.